The Metro London Police do it again
To paraphrase King Henry II,
"WILL NOBODY RID US OF THIS MEDDLESOME POLICE FORCE?"
I'll remind you all that the London Metro Police have arrested people for creating a non-infringing proxy service in "partnership" with entertainment companies.
I'll further remind you all the very same London Metro Police have made ludicrous claims about "The Tor" being 90% of the Internet. And that they have a bad history of trying to tell registrars to take down domains without any sort of trial or due process.
Ladies and gentlemen, now the London Metro Police have officially announced... that it's illegal to watch a video. I'm not making this shit up!
The MPS Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) is investigating the contents of the video that was posted online in relation to the alleged murder of James Foley. We would like to remind the public that viewing, downloading or disseminating extremist material within the UK may constitute an offence under Terrorism legislation.
I... wait, what? Look, I'm not interested in watching a video of a journalist being beheaded, thanks anyway, but... viewing that material is now "an offense under Terrorism legislation"?
Seriously! What I read and what I watch is my own damn business, and none of yours. You want to do something useful, how about you go after people for actual criminal activity, not for watching a damn video.
I'd also like to remind you all that the NSA (and GCHQ) label anybody who even visits the Tor website as an "extremist". So, would telling somebody about Tor be "disseminating extremist material"? Would watching a video describing how Tor operates be "viewing...extremist material"? And if they decide it "may constitute an offence", how long do you think it's going to be before they just arrest you without explanation and without recourse?
"WILL NOBODY RID US OF THIS MEDDLESOME POLICE FORCE?"
I'll remind you all that the London Metro Police have arrested people for creating a non-infringing proxy service in "partnership" with entertainment companies.
I'll further remind you all the very same London Metro Police have made ludicrous claims about "The Tor" being 90% of the Internet. And that they have a bad history of trying to tell registrars to take down domains without any sort of trial or due process.
Ladies and gentlemen, now the London Metro Police have officially announced... that it's illegal to watch a video. I'm not making this shit up!
The MPS Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) is investigating the contents of the video that was posted online in relation to the alleged murder of James Foley. We would like to remind the public that viewing, downloading or disseminating extremist material within the UK may constitute an offence under Terrorism legislation.
I... wait, what? Look, I'm not interested in watching a video of a journalist being beheaded, thanks anyway, but... viewing that material is now "an offense under Terrorism legislation"?
Seriously! What I read and what I watch is my own damn business, and none of yours. You want to do something useful, how about you go after people for actual criminal activity, not for watching a damn video.
I'd also like to remind you all that the NSA (and GCHQ) label anybody who even visits the Tor website as an "extremist". So, would telling somebody about Tor be "disseminating extremist material"? Would watching a video describing how Tor operates be "viewing...extremist material"? And if they decide it "may constitute an offence", how long do you think it's going to be before they just arrest you without explanation and without recourse?